BEVERLY HILLS, May 14, (THEWILL) – At exactly 5:15pm local time on Saturday, the English FA Cup final between Kelechi Iheanacho’s English Premier League side, Leicester City, and Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea will kick off to determine which side takes the trophy from Arsenal’s grip.
Many football analysts had thought this was going to be one of the four trophies that Pep Guardiola was going to claim in City’s determined drive for an unprecedented quadruple but all that changed because of the difference Tuchel brought to Stamford Bridge, when he replaced club legend and former manager, Frank Lampard, at the helm.
The Chelsea manager turned the feeble defence into an impregnable wall, which saw the Blues become a difficult team to beat. Tuchel supervised the London side in 26 games as Chelsea boss, bagging 17 wins and elevating them into the Premier League top four while reaching two finals, at home and in Europe, in the process.
The clubs they faced after Tuchel imprinted his style on Chelsea, learned this the hard way. It was how he ended Guardiola’s quadruple hopes in the FA Cup competition. Two of the best sides in Spain, La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid and second-placed Real Madrid, can attest to this as can Porto and all the clubs they played in England apart from Sam Allardyce’s West Bromwich Albion, which put five goals past this defense in an exceptional EPL tie.
Ahead of the final against the Foxes, who scaled through the Southampton semi-final hurdle with the help of Iheanacho’s goal to reach their first FA Cup semi-final since 1982, Tuchel has revealed that he uses meditation to relax himself in preparation for big matches.
The German, who does not come off as humorous, with the stern facade he maintains on the touchline, jokingly claimed he can “fly 20 or 30 centimetres off the floor” during these meditations. He said these pre-match meditations are useful to deal with the pressure of working at the highest level and the biggest fixtures.
In a candid session of private details, he described the process: “I try to wake up early and do some sports and some meditation and then be ready to prepare for the first meeting. Just 20 minutes, breathe in, breathe out. And try hard to do nothing.
“Some years ago I came into this. It helped me and it was a nice experience. When I was a coach at Dortmund. Sometimes I do it twice a day, other times I forget and go without it for a couple of weeks. Usually I fly 20 or 30 centimetres off the floor. I glide around the room. No, it is nothing special. It is breathing and trying hard to do nothing.”
The incisive tactician knows fully well that victory in Saturday’s FA Cup final is integral to the long-term success of the club and is focussed on that triumph above all else.
“Given the fact we are a young team, it could be a huge step to overcome this obstacle and make the last step and have this experience together. It could be absolutely crucial. They can be crucial moments and in terms of development it can be a huge boost.
“We have some quite impressive memories now together with this squad. They are very reliable in crucial moments. We had a tough semi-final so yeah, we have all the right to be confident and are fully aware that we need another big step to fulfil our dream.”
He concluded by showing that he had imbibed the spirit of the Blue side of London: “We are Chelsea and we are about winning and we want to win titles, and as many as possible.”
After prosecuting the FA Cup final, they will have just enough time to strategize for the big one later this month, where another EPL team awaits, a familiar foe in Guardiola, whom Tuchel has beaten twice, more recently in the reverse league fixture at the Etihad.
But, Tuchel must know that come May 29, in the UEFA Champions League final at the Estadio Do Dragao in Porto, all bets are off and it will be a battle to the finish and the survival of the best. Perhaps, his meditations will prove the difference, as they have obviously done so far.
Time will tell.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
